9/30/07

Do you ever find yourself stuck for blog or article topics? Often times, we choose a topic we are passionate about and set up a blog but there are those days we just can't come up with a thing to write about. Those are the days it's best to have a backup plan, or ways to find inspiration and ideas.

Here's 10 ways to come up with blog, journal or article material:

1) Check out and join a forum related to your blog topic or category. This serves a few purposes, one is you see what they are discussing there (hot topics). Secondly, you are able to promote your blog in the signature field whenever you comment a forum topic.

2) Join a social media site (Myspace, Facebook, Gather). Look for groups and people who have interests related to your blog topic. See what they might be discussing in the groups or forums on those sites. Pose a question to people on the site and work with the responses. YouTube is another example where you might find an interesting video related to your topic that you can blog about.

3) Read a magazine. Darren Rowse of Problogger suggests reading a magazine and taking notes as you do. You can find great ideas and material in one related to your blog. The newspaper might also do the trick.

4) Use the "Google News" feature to search. Look for news that pertains to the topics you blog about. Often times you'll find opinion pieces which you can provide a link to and then discuss your own thoughts on the matter.

5) Find a movie, album or book to review. Often times there are movies out which pertain to your blog topic (fiction and non-fiction). There may be a new title at your local store or library. Stop by and pick it up and give your thoughts on it.

6) Interview someone. Perhaps you blog is about finances, and your friend is a top notch stock broker. Or you know someone semi-famous or famous, or someone that has a lot of quality info about a particular topic. Draw up some questions to ask them and present it as your next blog entry.

7) Read other blogs on the same or similar topics. You may even ask that blogger to guest post on certain days for your blog.

8) Comment on a comment. If you have an interesting, thought-provoking or helpful reader comment on a blog entry, create an entry out of the comment along with your response or thoughts on it.

9) Write an "about entry". Pick a more specific topic within your blog's topic and then research it in-depth on Wikipedia, Google and other applicable sites to present more info about it.

10) Look at past blog entries you've done. See if there's a topic or entry you can revisit, or even re-post. Where applicable you can revise the material or add to it.

One of the best practices would be to have blog entries prepared ahead of time, especially on days you are extra inspired. Most blogs will fail to sustain an audience if they aren't updated consistently (3-4 times per week). People subscribe to blogs in order to keep up with the latest postings, but if there's a lack of them, subscribers will just forget or move on. There's always going to be those days where you feel like there's just nothing to say, but consider the above ideas if you're experiencing "Blogger's Block".